(Puerto Vallarta) L’ouragan Lidia, de catégorie 4 sur les cinq que compte l’échelle de Saffir-Simpson, a touché terre mardi en fin de journée au Mexique avec des vents de 220 km/h, a annoncé le Centre national des ouragans (NHC), établi aux États-Unis.
L’ouragan « extrêmement dangereux » qui s’est formé au-dessus de l’océan Pacifique et s’est renforcé à mesure qu’il se rapprochait des côtés du centre-ouest du Mexique a touché terre à 17 h 50 locales (19 h 50 heure de l’Est) près de la ville de Las Peñitas, dans l’État de Jalisco, à proximité de la station balnéaire de Puerto Vallarta.
« Des vents potentiellement mortels […] close to 220 km/h, with higher gusts […] and torrential rains extend inland into west-central Mexico,” details the NHC in its latest bulletin. He specifies that “rapid weakening is expected when Lidia will move inland.
These heavy rains “risk causing flash flooding, including in urban areas, as well as mudslides”. “Significant coastal flooding near and to the south” where the center of the hurricane hit with “large and dangerous waves”, it is still warned.
In Puerto Vallarta, where many Mexican and foreign tourists took advantage of the beach again Tuesday morning, hundreds of people took shelter from the heavy rains, while many businesses barricaded their storefronts with wooden panels.
PHOTO ULISES RUIZ, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
However, the beaches of Puerto Vallarta were still crowded with tourists late in the morning, even though the sky was starting to cloud over.
” He is coming […] so you have to be careful,” Luis Ramos, 29, told AFP, barricading the bar in which he is employed.
“It’s better to be safe than to flee,” said Felipe Pinto, hotel maintenance manager, as employees laid out sandbags in anticipation of flooding.
Schools in the area have suspended classes and businesses have been asked to close from 2 p.m. local time (4 p.m. Eastern).
“Everything that does not have an emergency mission must be closed. We also invite the population of the risk area to evacuate and take shelter,” said Gerardo Alonzo Castillon, director of Civil Protection and Fire of Puerto Vallarta.
” State of emergency ”
Civil protection organizations are “on alert” and “around six thousand elements of the armed forces” have been deployed for prevention, announced Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador during his daily press conference.
According to the Mexican Meteorological Service, the most affected areas are expected to extend from the state of Colima (west) to that of Nayarit (northwest), where 150 to 250 mm of rain are expected.
The population of the three affected states was asked to take precautions, take refuge in temporary shelters and move away from the coasts.
Mexico is hit by hurricanes every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, generally between May and November.
On Monday, a tropical storm, named Max, affected the state of Guerrero (south), causing the death of two people, according to regional authorities. Its passage caused floods: a breeder drowned “while trying to save his livestock” and another person died in his vehicle. According to AFP images, people had to take refuge on the roofs of their houses surrounded by water.